Show Notes:

1. [2:14] Calcium

Holly says:
Hi Robb – love your work. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on getting adequate calcium when doing a ketogenic diet for fat loss. I’m following the Ketogains macros and am a smallish female (125 pounds at 5’3) so my calorie count is quite low. I don’t tolerate dairy very well and there is only so much spinach one can eat in a day. I do eat canned salmon with bones but not every day. Seeds are too caloric when fat loss is the goal and I’m a bit concerned about supplements (Chris kresser has indicated calcium can end up in the wrong spot ex arteries). What about bone meal as a supplement? Other ideas?

2. [5:40] Asthma

Jenny says:
Do you have any suggestions on how to treat or eliminate asthma caused by allergies, such as allergies to pollens and grass – not to food? Thank you.

3. [8:57] Mixing high cholesterol, and high fat foods with fruit, corn, and potatoes

Justin says:
Hi Robb!

My girlfriend is Paleo, moderate carbs and high fat diet. I am wondering if she could be damaging her health when she eats steak with corn, fruit, potatos, or sugar of any kind.
Can you elaborate on mixing those kinds of carbs with high fat, high Cholesteryl meat and on the glycation process? Will this cause Atherosclerosis? And if not, what causes atherosclerosis?

Thanks Robb! I love the podcast!

4. [13:11] CBD Oil

Brad says:
What are your thoughts on the efficacy of CBD oil? If I wanted to try some what would I look for in a specific brand? I have noticed a wide variety of price ranges so how can one determine the quality of an oil?

Lee says:
I’ve read articles (most of which had ties to the cattle industry) talking of the improved fatty acid profile as the grade of beef goes up from select, choice, to prime particularly for fatty cuts like brisket. Is this really significant? When I’m going to smoke a brisket (that I rub in olive oil and eat while sipping green tea) I usually trim most of the hard external fat and am really only dealing with the subcutaneous fat. I think the take away from grass-fed vs grain fed is that yes grass is better but it’s only in the margin (same amount of Omega-6 but more Omega-3 for grass-fed and the absolute amount of omega-6 is what’s important in the presence of sufficient omega-3 i.e. improving the ratio by taking lots of fish oil doesn’t offset the high omega-6 load). I’m guessing this probably the case with the higher grades of beef relative to the lower the grades. However, the higher grades are definitely more tasty. Any insights”

Robb: Yes. Always a plus. Anything new that you want to share with folks?

Nicki: Goodness. Not really. Kids are back in school which is good for a little bit of routine normalcy.

Robb: Nicki means that it’s fucking awesome and we actually get something done now. We grossly under planned activities for the summer. Both kids and parents were a little beseeched.

Nicki: But at the same time it’s good for them to run wild a little bit and not have a lot of structure.

Robb: Absolutely.

Nicki: There were some pros and cons there.

Robb: Yeah. How’s your jiu-jitsu training going?

Nicki: It’s going.

Robb: Nice. What’s your favorite position currently?

Nicki: This is going to sound really weird but I’m liking training in mount bottom right now.

Robb: You’re figuring that out?

Nicki: Yeah.

Robb: You have a pretty mean kesa getame too.

Nicki: Yeah. I like that too.

Robb: What’s your least favorite position?

Nicki: Closed guard, for sure.

Robb: I would reflect that or mirror that. Cool. I’m trying to think of anything else but folks are probably not here for our social calendar. They might be here for some information. See if we can launch into that.

Nicki: Jump right in?

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: All right. We got a question from Holly and she says: Hi, Robb. I love your work and I’m wondering–

Robb: What’s the question about?

Nicki: Calcium. You want me to give me the heading first? Okay, I can do that.

Robb: Just a thought since Squatchy put it in there. Just thinking.

Nicki: Okay. Calcium, calcium, calcium. Robb, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on getting adequate calcium when doing a ketogenic diet for fat loss. I’m following the Ketogains macros and I’m small-ish female, 125 pounds at 5’3″. My calorie count is quite low. I don’t tolerate dairy very well and there’s only so much spinach one can eat in a day. This is true.

I do eat canned salmon with bones but not every day. Seeds are too caloric when fat loss is the goal and I’m a bit concerned about supplements. Chris Kresser has indicated calcium can end up in the wrong spot, for example, arteries. What about a bone meal as a supplement? Other ideas?

Robb: Yeah. That’s just a super common question. The cool thing about this is eating anything approximating an adequate protein, Paleo, keto type approach and you are typically squared away. Some of the things that get missed in this story is that, as we increase protein intake, we actually tend to improve calcium absorption out of the intestines interestingly.

Both in vegan land and elsewhere there’s some mythology around the acid loaded meat and that the bones are going to buffer that acid load. There’s some truth around this story, around metabolic acid doses but that actually is more of an outcome of metabolic syndrome, metabolic derangement from over eating food in general and less a problem otherwise.

If you are eating a generally whole foods approach which means that you’re keto or however it is that you’re doing things and the fact that you’re following the stuff from Ketogains means that you’re likely on point with this, but so long as the bulk of your calories is not refined oils in the form of Bulletproof coffee and stuff like that, you’re going to do fine. You get adequate magnesium which is an important cofactor in calcium metabolism and then from there the protein actually enhances the calcium reabsorption out of the intestines.

Make sure that your vitamins A, D and K are all on point and there’s some really simple supplements that you can get that are a combination of all those and it’s probably smart to supplement in combination form particularly as we head into the winter and you may not get as much sun. That’s really the other piece of the puzzle as well as just resistance training two to three days a week, full body resistance and even absent what we would call adequate calcium or absent adequate vitamin D levels which is really pretty hard to do.

[0:05:05]

But the strength training and resistance training really helps to maintain bone mineral density and also is a partitioning element. So, Kresser’s point about just taking huge amount of supplemental calcium and that can end up in lackey places like the arteries and stuff where you don’t want it, the strength training can help to partition that stuff. I just really wouldn’t worry about it. You can always go in and get a bone mineral density scan just to establish a baseline but if you’re doing everything as you’ve detailed here you’re probably good to go.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Our next question is on the topic of asthma.

Robb: I like that. I like letting folks know what the topic is.

Nicki: Jenny says–

Robb: Just as a side note here, I always tease Nicki and her family that there’s no communication on the Violetti side.

Nicki: We’ve already detailed this on a previous episode.

Robb: Did we talk about this?

Nicki: Yes ad nauseam.

Robb: Well, not everybody probably has listened to it. There’s this constant battle of, hey, a little extra communication would probably facilitate things and so I see this being in that vein of like, yeah, let’s let them know what the subject point is.

Nicki: Hey, I’m happy — This is your show. I’m happy to comply.

Robb: Okay, thanks. I’m going to get such an ass kicking. Can I turn this off?

Nicki: All right. This question is from Jenny and she wants to know if you have any suggestions on how to treat or eliminate asthma caused by allergies such as allergies to pollens and grass, not food.

Robb: Yeah. I mean, the real simple — maybe it’s not simple. But there are foods that if we react to them and the common culprits are grains, dairy — man, what are the other biggies? Sometimes nuts.

Nicki: Sometimes eggs.

Robb: Sometimes eggs. Yeah, sometimes eggs. But if you get an inflammatory response in that direction then you will tend to notice a heightened inflammatory response or the potential for the allergic responses to ramp up on the more like environmental inputs. And so making sure your sleep is totally on point. Again, vitamin ADK levels are dialed in. Chris Masterjohn has some amazing support materials around figuring out exactly what those are based on because it actually depends a little bit on your genetics and history of origin of your family lineage and whatnot.

But then just really — something that looks like anti-inflammatory Paleo type diet tends to dial down that inflammatory signaling. We’ve noticed, a ton of people have mentioned that when they go Paleo, let’s just say, Paleo, keto, what have you — Eva T. was maybe one of the first people that mentioned this years ago. People oftentimes, their white blood cell count drop a little bit below the normal level within testing when they change their diet this way.

What I think is going on with that is that when we’re generally eating this pro-inflammatory diet we tend to get an upregulation of inflammatory signaling. We get upregulation in the amount of various white blood cells in our system. I think what’s coming through door of testing centers as normal with regards to white blood cell count is just a reflection of an inflamed population.

That would be the stuff to try. Jenny didn’t mention exactly what she’s eating. She actually listens to the show. I would assume that it’s some sort of a Paleo-ish type thing. But if there’s a little bit of latitude on that I would look at those–

Nicki: Tightening that up.

Robb: Yeah, tightening that up and really giving that a go. And then the other piece is sleep. If you’re going to bed a little bit on the late side, stuff like that, then that absolutely can make you more allergy or asthma-prone.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Next question is regarding mixing high cholesterol and high fat foods with fruit, corn and potatoes. This question is from Justin: Hi, Robb. My girlfriend is Paleo, moderate carbs and a high fat diet. I’m wondering if she could be damaging her health when she eats steak with corn, fruit, potatoes or sugar of any kind. Can you elaborate on mixing those kinds of carbs with high fat high cholesterol meat and on the glycation process? Will this cause atherosclerosis and, if not, what causes atherosclerosis?

Robb: The cause of atherosclerosis is a whole other big topic and probably outside really doing a thorough treatment, this time maybe we could like a video slide show thing on that because you really want to dig into it and give it a fair shake because it’d be easy to tackle that in a trite fashion and then miss a bunch of pieces. The question here is good. Ted Naiman has talked about this avoid fat carb combos.

[0:10:01]

Marty Kendall has written some really phenomenal pieces. Don’t Eat for Autumn which is very similar to the book Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival which came out in 2001 which is basically making this case that spring and summer you can probably have a little bit more carbs and then as winter comes on you want to tighten that stuff up.

I’m perplexed on this in that if you’re generally eating whole unprocessed foods, like if we’re talking about a meal that is — let’s take a “Mediterranean meal” like some grilled fish and some lentils that were soaked overnight and sprouted and then slow cooked and we’ve got some spices in there and some veggies are added to it and then you drizzle some olive oil over that whole mix, I just really don’t see there being a big problem with this.

And really the largest problem that I see is the fat carb combo meals tend to lead towards overeating. It’s that overeating that is really the big bag of bone. It’s very trite to say just don’t overeat and you avoid most of the problems of civilization. But it’s true. The challenge is that we’re in this hyperpalatable and ubiquitous food environment that’s very, very easy to overeat. I could make a case that eating mainly protein fat greens or protein carbs or separating that stuff which is–

Nicki: Skipping the fat when you’re going to have more of a carb, which is having a steak — that’s just like standard summer barbecue, maybe having some steak or some grilled meat with some either fruit salad and some potato salad of some sort here. It doesn’t seem that–

Robb: That’s not freaking me out.

Nicki: That’s not freaking me out either.

Robb: Somebody who has maybe some portion control issues, maybe separating those things out could be a way of dealing with this if you’re really trying to optimize some insulin signaling and like you save carbs for earlier in the day or post workout and then the other meals are protein and fat. But I honestly think that that’s getting out to the outer edges of the return on investment. If we just generally eat an adequate to high protein intake, focus on nutrient dense vegetable matter that are non-immunogenic for us, everything just comes out in the wash from that.

Nicki: The interesting thing is he’s saying she’s eating a high fat diet but not detailing what kinds of fat either.

Robb: He’s kind of saying she’ll eat steak with corn, fruit, potatoes. It’s sounding like it’s coming from whole food sources which, again, that just doesn’t freak me out. Yeah. And we will — I’ll dig in and do my take on the atherogenic progression. Our clinic here in Reno Specialty Health, we have an interesting perspective on it looking at lipoproteins, LPIR score and all the significance around that stuff. That would be probably an hour-long treatment to really give it a good go. I’ll punt on that for now but we will circle back in the future.

Nicki: Okay. Our next question is on CBD oil and Brad is asking: What are your thoughts on the efficacy of CBD oil? If I wanted to try some, what would I look for in a specific brand? I’ve noticed a wide variety of price ranges so how can one determine the quality of a given oil?

Robb: Man, the quality piece is probably going to be the most challenging part for me but if you just poke around a little bit in the literature on CBD, it’s interesting in that it’s everything that we would look for an ancestral way of living. All the beneficial effects we get from proper sleep, exercise and diet, anti-inflammatory, immune modulating, CBD seems to do that.

I think that depending on variety, depending on genetic factors, depending on gut microbiome factors, the efficacy is going to vary from person to person. I forget the podcast I was listening to recently but a guy had a really great point talking about blood pressure medications. In a group of 100 people, if they’re given blood pressure medications, one group of folks may see a ten-point decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Another group of people may see a 20-point reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. And then another group of people may see no effect at all. We’re not surprised by that within drug trials but we’re surprised that there’s that degree of variation within foods and supplements. To that point, CBD oil seems to offer some really interesting benefits and in that risk analysis there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of downside. You don’t see horrific negative effects. Beekeeper’s Naturals has–

[0:15:01]

Nicki: They have a honey product that has some CBD in it.

Robb: Yeah. And that definitely — we like those guys. We support those guys. That is definitely a solid product that does have some honey in it. If you’re uber keto-ed out, you may want to look for a different option. If you’re in that Paleo land then, I guess, honey, fits in with that pretty well. Beekeeper’s Naturals. You know another place out of Chico, do you remember the name of that?

Nicki: Yeah. I’m blanking. It’s like Dutch Farm, some Holland, Dutch.

Robb: Okay. We’re blanking on the name right now but we’ll try to get that in the show notes for you. I mean, it’s trite but I would poke around on the Amazon reviews and whatnot. Usually the masses vet stuff out pretty well so you can get a sense of efficacy and also quality and customer service and all that. We’re skipping number five. That one’s not really germane today. Today’s show is going to be a little on the short side. That’s okay though.

Nicki: That’s okay. All right. This is the last question.

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: This one has to do with fatty acid profile for grades of beef. This question is from Lee. I’ve read articles, most of which had ties to the cattle industry talking of the improved fatty acid profile as the grade of beef goes up from select to choice to prime particularly for fatty cuts like brisket. Is this really significant? When I’m going to smoke a brisket that I rub an olive oil and eat while sipping green tea, I usually trim most of the hard external fat and I’m really only dealing with the subcutaneous fat.

I think the takeaway from grass fed versus grain fed is that, yes, grass is better but it’s only in the margin. The same amount of omega-6 but more omega-3 for grass fed and the absolute amount of omega-6 is what’s important in the presence of sufficient omega-3. I eat improving the ratio by taking lots of fish oil and doesn’t offset the high omega-6 load. I’m guessing this is probably the case with the higher grades of beef relative to the lower grades. However, the lower grades are definitely more tasty. Any insights?

Robb: Yeah. I mean, I am by no means a huge expert on this but generally what we’re talking about is just increasing amounts of fat relative to the grade. The prime is typically the fattiest cut, the choice is somewhat less fatty and then select tends to be comparatively lean. You could have a tri-tip that is either select, choice or prime. All those relate to just the relative amounts of fat in the meat.

The ratios, fatty acid ratios, again, to Lee’s point, are going to be somewhat determined by grass fed versus grain fed although there’s not a massive delta there. There is a case to be made that pastured meat will accumulate some carotenoids in the fat and that can add both flavor and some nutritional value. I mean, these are definitely operating at the margin.

I mean, push for pastured meat, is more the sustainability and also the animal husbandry side of that, that story. And Lee mentioned that he tends to trim the more external fat when he’s smoking it. This is due largely that that fat can oxidize and go bad. When you’re making turkey, for example, or biltong, you typically want a leaner source of meat because it’s less likely for that to oxidize and go bad. The fattier cuts of meat typically don’t stay shelf stable as long and don’t finish out quite as nicely. So, yeah, that’s what I’ve got on grades of meat.

Robb: Okay. I can’t think of anything else either. Thanks, folks, for the continued support.

Nicki: Submit your questions on robbwolf.com at the contact page.

Robb: Yeah. We are trying to beef up our YouTube channel so do a little search for Robb Wolf YouTube and follow us there. I’m going to put a lot more content there, not quite daily but probably multiple times a week. I’m going to do maybe a three to six-minute video pieces on a variety of topics. And then I’m doing a ton of work over at Instagram. You can follow me there @dasrobbwolf for Instagram. We’ll talk to you guys soon. Take care.

Robb Wolf

Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.

The PALEO SOLUTION

ROBB WOLF, 2x New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.

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